Here’s the transcript, although I recommend watching the clip purely for the drama of tea-party godfather GB confronting the possibility that this is the guy the “new” populist GOP is going to hire to remake Washington. It’s all here: The Medicare prescription drug expansion, the cheerleading for health-care mandates, and of course Newt’s enthusiasm for tackling global warming. Watch for the part where he reminds Beck that he testified against cap and trade before the House … without mentioning that he once thought it was a fine idea. Ultimately, I think this interview was less about debating ideology (note that Beck rarely engages him in a sustained exchange on any topic) than fostering an uneasy but necessary rapprochement between Beck’s “get government out of the way” wing of the party and Newt’s “use government to foster conservative policy goals” wing. If he’s the nominee, there’ll have to be a detente in the interest of defeating you-know-who. Here’s the first olive branch as Newt tries to convince the Beck faithful that he agrees with them on the ends, if not the means. Click the image to watch.